Travel to Brazil

Parque do Ibirapuera

Inaugurated in 1954 to celebrate the city's fourth birthday, and designed by famous architect Oscar Niemeyer together with landscape designer Burle Marx, Ibirapuera Park covers an area of almost two million meters and is São Paulo's very own "Central Park". Both the Modern Art and Contemporary Art museums are found here, along with the Ibirapuera Planetarium and the Japanese Pavilion, as well as the famous obelisk and the Monumento às Bandeiras. There are also sports grounds, a jogging track, a children's playground, a restaurant and a snack bar. Admission is free of charge.

Sorry Copacabana is dead

Most of the tourists want to go to Copacabana. The famous beach from the 50´s is not the same. Too many big buildings with small apartments were built there, and now it is the paradise for hookers, pimps and thieves. Rio can be a paradise, but also a nightmare, or just a boring place. It depends on where you stay and what you do.A big trap in Rio are the big hotels, from international chains. People who stay on those places always think the city is expensive and boring. There are too many tourists traps , but if you keep your mind open, use common sense and try to go where locals go, you will have the best about Rio. Even Copacabana can be great. Just avoid places where you don´t see Brazilian families. If you see only foreign men and Brazilian women, get out of there! Nothing good will come from a place like those. Try to hire small tour agencies, from their webpages, on your very first days. They will tell you all about the city, and soon you will be able to ride around by yourself. Don´t go on Jeep Tours. Rio is not a jungle, you´re not on a safari! It´s not comfortable, not safe, very polluted, and you will have a pain on your neck because of the way you seat.

Churrasco

A typical food of Brazil is churrasco, several different types of meat. At restaurants you can enjoy this different meats, and it is called Espeto Corrido. This includes salads and many other delicious things to eat with the meat, so I highly recommend you go eat with a very empty stomach! It usually includes a buffet and desert buffet, and you will find food of every part of the world. Bon appetit!

Santa Teresa Cable Car

The Santa Teresa Cable Car and the Museu da Chacara do Ceu are off the beaten track but well worth it. (NB if you don't have much time, take a cab from your hotel directly to the Museum described below and take the cable car going down only.) Starting from downtown Rio, you take the Santa Teresa Cable Car This goes over an elevated stretch supported by a wall of arches in the Roman aqueduct fashion -- impressive to look at from below, and the ride in the cable car is picturesque. You can go all the way to the top of the Santa Teresa hill and look around for a bit and then come down halfway, or you can just stop halfway on the way up. "Halfway" means the stop for the Museu Chacara do Ceu. This is a small art museum in a really beautiful setting. It usualy one or two world-class temporary exhibits besides its (small) permanent collection. It's about a half-mile's walk (or 3/4 mile?) from the cable car stop. Here is the address: Rua Murtinho Nobre, 93, Santa Teresa, phone 2224-8981.

Carnaval in Bahia

Carnival in Bahia!!! That is if parties and crowds are your thing. Nowhere else comes close. Carnival Bahia is not nubile women in feathers high up on floaters à la Carnival Rio. It's YOU out there on the streets doing it 'til you drop. Carnaval (as it's spelled in Portuguese) 2007 starts Thursday, February 15th, and it runs through Tuesday, February 20th -- officially. Unofficially (and actually) it runs to the morning of Ash Wednesday, February 21st, and then continues in the arrastão (roundup) of Timbalada, which starts Wednesday morning at the Farol da Barra and winds its way along Avenida Oceanica to Ondina. The arrastão, which started several years ago and was only Timbalada has now seen other people and blocos jump on the the bandwagon (quite literally). It's grown to include at least three trios and blocos, winding up early Wednesday afternoon, and then there you are at Ondina's lovely beach, where the party continues at the barracas. In keeping with Carnival's theme, this year's Carnival has a "symbol", and that is none other than another venerable old-guard sambista...Bahia's own 85-year-old Mr. Dynamite!...Riachão! The man just doesn't know when to stop!

Lagoon Rodrigo de Freitas

It is a very nice and quiet place in the mornings, you can even hear the birds singing for you, the scene it's just beautiful and I can see your smiley face right now just  imagine about it. Of course there are a lot of thieves like everywhere you go in Rio, but don't worry, they are harmless and you just need to know how to deal with those low and sometimes stupid crooks.  have fun, and be safe!

Caipiroska

The Caipiroska is a delicious drink from Brazil, a variation of the traditional Caipirinha, which is prepared with "cachaça", a very strong alcoholic beverage. Caipiroska is prepared in the same way, with lemon slices, sugar, ice, but instead of using that strong (and cheap) beverage, you use vodka. This drinks is delicious, refreshing, but be careful! It is sweet, so you don't realize how strong it is! Cheers!

Copacabana

Copacabana in Rio de Janeiro is a very famous borough for its 4km beach. Copacabana goes from Princesa Isabel Avenue to Posto Seis, close to Forte de Copacabana. It hosts the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup most years, and if you go around New Year's Eve, you will see millions of revelers at its beaches, and some great shows featuring world known artists, like the Rolling Stones for example.

BRAZILIAN FEIJOADA

It was introduced in Brazil by black slaves as early as the sixteenth century, "feijoada" it's a bean potpourri type dish, it is kind off the Brazilian equivalent of our American "soul food". It is without a doubt the country's national dish. It is in fact so popular throughout Brazil that most restaurants, from the humblest inner-city " lanchonete" to the sophisticated hotels lining the Bahia and Rio shores, designate specific days in which "feijoada" is served at lunch time as "o prato do dia" and of course that day's special. Other eateries pride themselves in the fact that they serve it every day and advertise it in the yellow pages and/or in conspicuous blackboards outside their premises. They are somehow very proud of Feijoada ( orginally known as "poor people food") but it's so tasty that anyone loves it these days.

Roraima

Roraima is a state of Brazil, located in the northern region of the country, bordering Pará and Amazonas states. It has a tropical weather, is very rich in mineral deposits, like gold, diamonds and bauxite, although this generates conflicts between the natives, like the Yanomami and the Macuxi. It has one of the highest mountains in Brazil, the Tepui Monte Roraima, with 2.727 meters high.